Hubs deliver 24-7 health and care support

A new generation of web-based healthcare hubs is providing patients in West Yorkshire with round-the-clock access to services and a guiding hand on where to go for support and advice – without having to see their local doctor or visit A&E.

West Wakefield

West Wakefield Health & Wellbeing is a group of six neighbouring GP practices, serving around 64,000 patients in West Yorkshire. Their Health & Wellbeing Hub - an online ‘directory’ of local services - is supported by the Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund, the nationwide initiative aimed at improving day-to-day healthcare. Through it the organisation delivers local health, wellbeing and support information from a range of sources.

The group has just added a brand new ‘Care Navigation’ feature to the platform, specifically designed to help patients find their way around the local healthcare system and locate the most appropriate service for their needs.

A ‘triage’ feature gives pointers on where to seek help, depending on the urgency of their situation and - by integrating with recognised sites, like NHS Choices and Patient Opinion - gives patients the best possible advice on where to go. It also pulls in other relevant content from social media sites such as Facebook, Yelp and Meetup, and makes patients aware of other informal sources of support and social activities that could help with their general well-being, from bereavement groups to book clubs.

Meanwhile a range of online tools can help patients, for example, check their own symptoms, plan healthy diets, boost their fitness, quit smoking and understand their own body mass index. They can also use the hub to access SystmOnline, which lets them book appointments at their own GP surgery and safely request prescriptions over the internet.

Representatives from all six of West Wakefield Health & Wellbeing’s practices, spread across Chapelthorpe, Horbury, Lupset, Middlestown and Ossett, were involved in developing this Care Navigation service – together with Nova (a support agency for voluntary groups in Wakefield), members of the Senior Citizens Support Group and South West Yorkshire NHS Partnership Foundation Trust.

Alongside this new online resource, West Wakefield Health & Wellbeing has developed a network of more than 70 ‘Care Navigators’ – staff from the GP practices and volunteers from the community - who have been trained to guide patients to the support they need. This includes directing patients to their local pharmacy, contraception and sexual health services, physiotherapists, family support and voluntary organisations, all dependent on their individual needs.

As well as getting patients to the care they need faster, the Hub, which is optimised for smartphones and mobile devices, shifts demand away from the frontline and frees up more GP appointments for those who really need them.

The Hub’s original directory of local services celebrated its six-month anniversary in April, not long before the new Care Navigation facility was launched. It has generated strong interest, and its usage continues to rise: within six months more than 1,300 different people visited the West Wakefield Hub, between them holding over 2,200 sessions on the website. Among the most common topics users search for help with are ‘mental health’, ‘mobility’, ‘sexual health’, ‘support groups’ and ‘home care’.

“Since its introduction, the West Wakefield Health & Wellbeing hub has harnessed the power of the web to add a new dimension to care and support in our catchment area. The Care Navigation facility will shift demand away from the frontline while still providing a high quality, 24-hour service to our patients.”

Guy Giles, Looking Local’s Managing Director, said: “With increasing pressure on frontline services, helping local health bodies deliver round-the-clock support that cuts unnecessary GP appointments and reduces the number of visits to A&E is becoming increasingly important. Building on the success of the West Wakefield Health & Wellbeing hub, we are now in a position to share this capability elsewhere in the UK focusing on local health priorities.”

Health organisations can find out how LookingLocal can help build their Health & Wellbeing Hub, by emailing helpdesk@lookinglocal.gov.uk or calling 0845 434 8540

Strong and positive patient feedback for new Self-Care Hub

The Self-Care Hub, the new online tool that empowers people with long-term health issues to self-manage their conditions, has undergone user-testing in West Yorkshire – and feedback from patients has so far been overwhelmingly positive.

Strong and positive patient feedback for new Self-Care Hub

The Hub has been rolled out by Kirklees Council’s Public Health Directorate, working with the Greater Huddersfield and North Kirklees Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) under the title, MyHeathTools. Recent patient trials focused on breathing problems, chronic pain and anxiety - and a focus group last week also captured reactions of potential users of the platform.

Underpinned by proven Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) techniques, the Self-Care Hub encourages behavioural change by supporting users to achieve measurable goals. It takes a ‘whole-person’ approach that promotes independent decision-taking – and users can also engage the support of a circle of formal and informal carers.

Patients’ comments have included:

• “I can see a range of informed choices that will help patients to make their own decisions.”

• “I found MyHealthTools easy to use, especially that there was less typing and more clicking.”

• “I think this will help people to change behaviour, especially when they can identify and select for themselves the areas they would like to improve.”

More in-depth interviews during the focus group drew a number of observations that will be useful to the future development of the Self-Care Hub, including:

• how the Hub would encourage patients to think about non-medical impacts of their condition - on relationships, for example

• how the way patients live their day-to-day lives would affect their condition, and how the social networking aspect of the Hub will make people feel less isolated, with a wider circle of care making a real difference to their sense of wellbeing

• the value of being able to set targets, both big and small.

Health and care professionals who attended a recent preview of the Self-Care Hub in Birmingham were similarly positive, describing it as “patient-centred”, “a great tool” that “works really well”, has “huge applicability” and is “an exciting way of involving people in the design of their own health care.”

Further information on the Self-Care Hub is available from Irene Zdziebko on 0845 434 8540, or 01757 638154 or email irene.zdziebko@letshelpyou.co.uk.

Tenant Information & Community Hubs that promote health

LookingLocal's new generation of digital hubs are providing a range of important information for housing tenants - and could also improve their health and well-being.

Tenant Information & Community Hubs that promote health

Integrated into your website and complementing your online services – such as paying rent online and requesting repairs - our information hubs can help your tenants improve their fitness, find jobs, get benefits and welfare advice, explore care options, and join local community and interest groups - as well as find the support they need from a variety of sources.

Having access to such a range of support, in an easy-to-use format, puts tenants in a better position to look after themselves, make the most of their lives and take pressure off frontline services - reducing face-to-face and telephone contact.

This approach will also reinforce your website's role as an important online community hub, promoting and supporting local businesses, charities, neighbourhood groups and other organisations, putting them at tenants' fingertips - without the additional content management burden.

Looking Local is owned by the public sector, so procurement is relatively quick and straightforward.

In addition to its established products for housing associations and local authorities, LookingLocal is also growing a reputation for ground-breaking digital solutions for health organisations that help patients access services and self-manage their long-term conditions.

If you would like a demonstration of one of our Tenant Information & Community Hubs in action, contact us now to find out how LookingLocal can help your tenants help themselves. Contact Emma Giles, Business Development Manager - emma.giles@lookinglocal.gov.uk, 01962 851 582/ 07973 338 771. Help desk: 0845 434854.

MyLandlord

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Making public services accessible through innovative, cost-effective technologies

Sectors & Products

LookingLocal's product range and client base spans local government, housing, employment, health, transport, benefits and Universal Credit, care options and the local offer for children with special educational needs.

Our apps are available free to the end-user on Google Play for Android and the Apple store for iOS smartphones and tablets.

All of our products can be branded to your organisation's house style.

Housing

LookingLocal offers a range of solutions aimed at housing association and local authority tenants, as well as private landlords. They provide far more than access to housing services. In addition to landlord services, home-finding and issues-reporting, they also open up resources vital to the wealth and wellbeing of your tenant community.

Money & Benefits

Major changes to the way benefits are administered mean that accurate, up-to-the minute information is vital to both claimants and advisers. LookingLocal has developed products to support claimants through the application and appeals process allowing up to 70 per cent of users to self-serve when making a claim.

Council

Local authorities are at the cutting edge of the Digital by Default agenda. LookingLocal's products for councils reduce face-to-face and telephone contact, putting services at the fingertips of residents.

Self-Care Hub

The Self-Care Hub provides an opportunity for patients with long-term health issues to self-manage their conditions, empowering them to take control of their wellbeing 24/7 and reducing the need for face-to-face consultation with their clinicians.

The Self-Care Hub

The Self-Care Hub - re-enabling patients to manage their conditions

The Self-Care Hub empowers patients with long-term health issues to better understand and self-manage their conditions - and take day-to-day control of their well-being.

The Self-Care Hub is an easy-to-use and engaging web-based solution that helps patients tackle long-term health conditions. It gives one-stop, free access to local health and other services  as well as online communities, information sources and interactive support locally and worldwide.

It is being rolled out by Kirklees Councils Public Health Directorate, working with the Greater Huddersfield and North Kirklees Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) under the title, MyHealthTools.

Reducing face-to-face consultations

The Self-Care Hub is designed to reduce the need for face-to-face consultation with clinicians, reducing reliance on over-stretched primary care, emergency and specialist health services. Users can draw on a diverse range of support and advice whenever they need it, 24-hours a day, all-year round.

Positive effects of empowerment

The platform lets users make ongoing assessments of their motivation levels to change their behaviour  and gauges their confidence levels in managing their own health. Improved physical and emotional well-being, reduced isolation through a supportive network, and a sense of empowerment have a positive knock-on effect in patients family, work and social lives

Behavioural change through CBT

Underpinned by proven Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) techniques, the Self-Care Hub facilitates behavioural change by supporting users to achieve measurable goals, offering educational resources and challenging misconceptions. Users can also engage the support of a circle of formal and informal carers. It takes a whole-person approach that encourages behavioural change and independent decision-taking.

Evidence-based

Research shows that self-management of care works: two West Yorkshire case studies echo national findings by the Department of Health which identify a range of benefits, including lower dependency on frontline services, high levels of patient satisfaction and feelings of wellbeing, a reduced need for medication and significant cost savings.

Further information on the Self-Care Hub is available from Irene Zdziebko on 0845 434 8540, or 01757 638154 or email selfcarehub@lookinglocal.gov.uk.

LetsHelpYou / RentARoom

LetsHelpYou is a multi-channel solution enabling people on Local Housing Allowance to search for affordable accommodation, putting them in touch with local landlords direct. It offers a range of added extras, like an LHA calculator and property management tools for landlords...

LetsHelpYou

...RentARoom is a digital room-renting solution designed to make it easier for housing tenants and homeowners to afford their rents and mortgages.

LetsHelpYou is proving increasingly popular with local authorities: it removes councils from the centre of the contact-heavy housing advice service and delivers efficiency savings. LetsHelpYou promotes inclusion by being accessible across a range of devices, including interactive TV (through Sky and Virgin) and smartphone apps, as well as on the web. Users can "house- hunt" in the comfort of their living room – either through the TV or via their phone.

For tenants…

LetsHelpYou features a Local Housing Allowance calculator and colour-codes properties to show whether they are affordable. Once registered, tenants log preferences, create shortlists and can contact the landlord direct, reducing the management overhead for housing associations and other providers.

...and landlords

LetsHelpYou has a range of tools to help landlords manage their properties, including an app that allows vacant property images and details to be uploaded, highlighting availability, details of rents and utilities and any terms and conditions.

RentARoom

RentARoom puts people who are keen to let out a room in their property in touch with individuals who are just looking for a room to rent. It is designed to help public sector housing tenants who are struggling to pay increased rents - through, for example, under-occupation - or homeowners who want to make mortgage repayments easier to meet.

It is useful for families who have a spare room when a child goes to university, and is especially beneficial for people under-35 – the group most impacted by welfare reforms – who are looking for somewhere to live. It also offers a potential solution for authorities housing people in temporary accommodation.

Health & Wellbeing Hubs

Hubs help you deliver 24-7 health support

LookingLocals Health & Wellbeing Hubs are reducing GP appointments and visits to A&E  and allowing Clinical Commissioning Groups and GP practices to support their communities 24 hours a day.

Trusted content

The Hubs let you promote trusted local health and wellbeing information all in one place. Content is drawn from a range of sources - including local support groups, health forums and a range of multi-media content - providing the ability to accredit third-party information, as well as create your own.

A Triage feature advises on where to go in emergency or non-emergency situations.

Fully integrated

The Hub is integrated with NHS Choices and Patient Opinion, and also allows access to relevant additional content from sites such as Facebook, Yelp and MeetUp.

The Health & Wellbeing Hub is designed to blend seamlessly with your existing website  or can provide you with the basis for a refreshed web presence.

West Wakefield live

West Wakefield Health & Wellbeing is a group of six neighbouring GP practices serving 63,000 patients. Their Hub, supported by the Prime Ministers Challenge Fund, lets them accredit information from a range of sources.

Developed by LookingLocal

LookingLocal is currently developing a number of hub solutions aimed at a range of end-users, including carers for people with dementia, patients with long-term health conditions and housing tenants looking for wider sources of help and advice.

MyCouncil

MyCouncil is a flexible, managed app that allows local authorities to deliver accessible and citizen-focused services. MyCouncil incorporates street reporting, access to key national services, the ability to integrate systems and links to selected web resources. It also offers the potential for branding and customisation.

MyCouncil

MyCouncil is a flexible app for Android and iOS phones and tablets allowing local authorities to surface a range of relevant information and services for their customers. It uses smartphones functions, such as the camera, GPS and simple, intuitive design. Councils can also link to a range of content and services from numerous sources. MyCouncil can be built to your branding guidelines.

Street reporting

Central to MyCouncil is the street reporting facility which allows citizens to report local issues such as potholes, graffiti, street-lighting issues and fly-tipping.

Management Portal

A web-based management portal allows council staff to see all reports, group them by type and location and manage them in terms of their status and extract reports. Front- and back-end systems can be integrated through MyCouncil.

Flexible Design

MyCouncil can link to a range of content sources and services - both local and national - to enable partners to build the right app to meet their customer needs. Examples might include your own payment module, or national services such as Universal Jobmatch, Universal Credit, NHS 24/NHS Choices or The Money Advice Service.

MyLandlord

MyLandlord is a flexible smartphone app allowing tenants to access repairs and other landlord services. Key to the app is the housing repairs capability allowing tenants to report repairs quickly and easily. Alongside the app is a management portal that allows housing organisations to push messages direct...

MyLandlord

... to a smartphone home screen, improving the communication and repairs process.

My Landlord is delivering savings, streamlining the housing repairs process and improving tenant engagement for a range of housing providers. It can be integrated with third-party systems, requires no capital investment or management cost - and the technology is future-proofed.

Management Portal

MyLandlord's management portal integrates housing reports into existing systems and has a push-messaging capability that can send questions, confirmations and updates direct to the home screen of the tenant's phone. This simplifies communication, speeds up the repairs process and boosts tenant satisfaction. It is easy-to-use, creates a log of all communications and delivers analytic reports that help effective work scheduling.

Flexible design

MyLandlord also offers a range of other useful local and national services to help housing providers build the right app to suit their tenants' needs, such as a payment module, Universal JobMatch, Universal Credit, the Money Advice Service and NHS Choices.

BetterOff

BetterOff is a new digital platform, that aims to help benefits claimants back into the workplace by maximising their income, as well as increasing their contribution to the local economy. BetterOff is founded on the principle that people in full receipt of their entitled benefits are more likely to find employment.

BetterOff

BetterOff  saving money and enhancing prosperity

Ensuring that people on benefits claim their full entitlement and are fully supported in their search for employment has clear economic and social benefits and reduces the financial burden on other public services.

BetterOff is a digital platform that delivers major savings in benefits advice budgets by streamlining the process of advising and representing job-seeking claimants.

Saving £400k per year

It is being rolled out by Kirklees Council on behalf of local advisory services and is projected to save as much as £400,000 on the authoritys annual benefits advice budget

Reductions in face-to-face consultations

BetterOff It enables a far greater level of self-service and reductions in face-to-face and telephone contact. The service is optimised for use on smartphones and mobile devices to enable access for users without PCs.

Key benefits

Key benefits of BetterOff include:

• 70% of users should be able to self-serve

• makes users aware of the benefits they are entitled to

• guides them through the application and any appeals process

• reduces the likelihood of sanctions by up to 80%

• has multiple jobs databases in one place

• highlights how much better off a claimant would be in employment

• is mobile optimised.

Helping claimants back into the workplace

Founded on the principle that people in full receipt of their entitled benefits are more likely to find employment BetterOff helps claimants back into the workplace by maximising their income, as well as increasing their contribution to the local economy.

Kirklees Council-owned tech developer, LookingLocal, is partnering with entitledto, the UKs leading provider of online benefits calculators, to deliver the service.

Any local authority or advisory service wishing to find out more about BetterOff  and contribute their needs and insight to the development of the platform  should call LookingLocal on 0845 434 8540, or email betteroff@lookinglocal.gov.uk

MyHealth

The MyHealth app enables CCGs and GP surgeries to offer a wide range of patient focused services on smartphones to improve communication and health outcomes. The ability to embed accredited apps from other trusted health providers and link to mobile optimised services from organisations such as...

MyHealth

MyHealth app has been developed in partnership with CCGs, GP surgeries and NHS Trusts and offers, as standard, core information, such as surgery opening times, appointment booking, clinic information, repeat prescriptions and other GP services. The ability to embed accredited health apps and mobile-optimised services into My Health that makes it really valuable.

24/7 appointment booking - reduced DNAs

For surgeries working with eMIS surgery software, MyHealth offers real-time, 24/7 GP appointment booking, amending and cancellation, reducing the number of DNAs. Prescriptions can also be ordered and signed off in the standard way, using a secure PIN number.

Integration

As the app is integrated with eMIS surgery software, all requests are received and managed seamlessly. MyHealth can also be integrated into other surgery software used by CCGs and GP practices (provided there is an open API).

Flexible App Design

Content and services can be offered from a range of sources in addition to your own CMS – and they can easily be added or removed as appropriate for your patient needs. MyHealth offers direct link to mobile-optimised services, such as the BMI calculator and the Symptom Checker on the NHS Choices website, both of which can be embedded.

MyLocalOffer

MyLocalOffer helps local authorities deliver their 'Local Offer' for children with special educational needs or disability (SEND), as required by the Children & Families Act 2014. MyLocalOffer provides a one-stop, comprehensive source of information, advice and support in an innovative, inclusive and sustainable way.

MyLocalOffer

MyLocalOffer is an innovative approach to delivering the 'Local Offer' of services and information for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

Content from beyond a council's website

MyLocalOffer incorporates a search capability that pulls in a wealth of content – much of it in multimedia form - beyond a council's website, gaining insight from other organisations and communities and providing a much wider source of information and support, reflecting the complex needs of the SEND community.

Accessible 24/7

The Children & Families Act 2014 requires local authorities in England to deliver their Local Offer by making services and information accessible to parents and carers. We achieve this by making MyLocalOffer available across a range of mobile platforms and devices - PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones - 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Councils "curate" content

A council's SEND team can curate their site by controlling and accrediting what content is offered by their MyLocalOffer platform. This cuts down on duplication and means that information is as up to date as possible. Its search facility dynamically pulls in content from local voluntary, health and other support organizations, as well as global resources, based on criteria set by users. Content can be in multimedia (video or audio) form and can be sourced from social media communities and online forums.

Secure, up-to-date, flexible, good value

Councils are finding MyLocalOffer attractive for a number of reasons: value for money, security, the ability to offer up-to-date, accurate listings from local partners without needing to manage content and a flexible approach to design that enables partners to customise and make changes in line with customer and organisational needs.

MyCare

The new Care Act makes it incumbent on local authorities to provide online solutions to help service users who are looking for temporary or long-term care – either for themselves or elderly or infirm relatives- together with associated funding options. MyCare offers a solution to help navigate the care options maze and is...

MyCare

MyCare is an innovative hub solution helping councils deliver Care Act information and advice, as well as bring in supporting information and listings from key care partners, including NHS Choices.

It lets you:

• Promote local services without having to manage or maintain their content

• Enable people to access advice and resources from across the wider web

• Pull in content on paying for care, jobs, welfare and wellbeing from partners such as The Money Advice Service and dedicated care organisations;

• Make a wide range of information and documents available from across your existing systems;

• Offer a mobile-optimised solution branded to your organisation.

Tenant & Community Hubs

We have created a new generation of online support and information hubs for tenants that provide far more than access to housing services. As part of a housing provider's main website, they open up resources vital to the wealth and wellbeing of a tenant community, offering opportunities to grow...

Tenant & Community Hubs

..skills, find work, manage money or improve health.

Tenant & Community Hubs

Integrated into a housing provider's website, our new Tenant and Community Hubs are designed to provide easy access across a range of platforms, maximising inclusion of all users - at low cost to the host organisation.

Promoting health and financial wellbeing

The hubs open up resources vital to the wealth and wellbeing of your tenant community, offering opportunities to grow skills, find work, manage money or improve health. Available services and advice span jobs, benefits, financial planning, training, transport, community information and NHS portals.

An important community hub

This will reinforce your website's role as an important online community hub, promoting and supporting local businesses, charities, neighbourhood groups and other organisations, putting them at tenants' fingertips - without the additional content management or contact cost.

Freedom to Roam

Freedom to Roam is a tablet-based solution that helps older people remain mobile, feel less isolated and remain connected to their "circle of care" - a network of family, friends, health-providers and carers - from home and on the move.

Freedom to Roam

Freedom to Roam allows carers and the people they care for to communicate and manage health and care needs. Whether it is supporting someone who has recently come out of hospital, making sure an elderly relative is safe and well or someone with more complex medical need, our Freedom to Roam app and management portal allows virtual care and communication around the clock.

Patient-centred

Freedom to Roam is a blank canvas on which a patient-centred set of services can be built and managed. The ability to embed any Android app means it can be used in a variety of cases and can personalised to needs and preferences of the user.

Freedom to Roam:

• can deliver significant savings to carers and healthcare in time and resources

• can be organised on a one-to-one or one-to-many approach to healthcare

• keeps vulnerable people in contact with healthcare professionals, family and friends

LookingLocal Interactive

LookingLocal's core solution enables our clients to deliver integrated, interactive services and information on Sky, Virgin, mobile web, a range of smartphone apps, on games consoles, in Facebook and online, without the need to invest money or time to manage or future-proof these different channels.

LookingLocal Interactive

LookingLocal Interactive delivers public sector services on popular devices and channels for all members of your community, widening participation and promoting digital inclusion.

Delivering savings

LookingLocal Interactive delivers significant savings in terms of frontline costs, carries no capital investment or management overhead – and our technology is future-proofed and can be integrated with local and third party systems.

Around 130 public sector partners across local government, housing and health are using LookingLocal to deliver focused solutions.

Partnerships enhance products

Our public sector ownership means we have established partnerships with government and public sector organisations such as Universal Jobmatch, Universal Credit, DWP, The Money Advice Service, NHS Choices, NHS Scotland, Timebanking UK and others. These can then be embedded into partner sites and are useful, up-to-date and popular with users. We work with a number of providers to integrate key customer focused services, such as choice based lettings, GP services, credit union access, as well as social media and image-sharing sites such as Twitter and Flickr.

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Clients & Partners

Partners

Local Authority Clients

Housing Clients

Health Clients

LookingLocal Clients

More than 130 Local Authorities, Housing Associations and Health organisations across the UK use LookingLocal's solutions, which deliver content and interactive services across a range of channels and devices to residents, tenants, patients and customers.

Third sector/voluntary organisations, including Help the Aged, Digital Outreach and Independent Age.

"I have been impressed with the level of support and depth of partnership working we have had with the LookingLocal team. LookingLocal
opens up a brand new communication channel to many of our customers who cannot self-serve from our website."

"Many thanks for all your help, it's been fantastic and we wouldn't have got all the services we have up and running without your support,
it's been invaluable."

"Our LookingLocal TV and app services are important in helping us to provide health advice and information to a much wider group of people, and the support we've had from the team in developing our two CCG channels has been fantastic."

News

Partnership developing self-care tool for MSK pain

A new tool that helps people manage chronic pain brought on by musculoskeletal disorders (MSK) will draw on the expertise of an alliance of leading organisations in the field of rheumatology and arthritis care.

The Self-Care Hub is a digital platform that empowers people with long-term health issues to self-manage their conditions and take day-to-day control of their well-being by encouraging behaviour change.

Advice platform that boosts the local economy

A new digital platform will increase the amount benefits claimants contribute to their local economy - and deliver significant savings on advice budgets for councils, housing associations and other advisory bodies.

BetterOff helps claimants maximise their income by claiming all they are entitled to - and ultimately puts them in a better position to find employment. As well as pointing claimants towards job opportunities - BetterOff highlights how much better off people would be in sustainable work

App is a neighbourhood investment for Plus Danen

One of the North-West’s biggest housing providers is putting a range of services supporting health and financial wellbeing at the fingertips of its tenants, with the launch of new apps for two of its regions.

In addition to services such as repairs reporting, paying rent and requesting appointments, Plus Dane’s new digital solution provides a wealth of support tools beyond housing. It also reduces the need for face-to-face or phone contact with Plus Dane’s busy customer advisers.

About Us

LookingLocal delivers access to online services from councils, housing, health and other public sector organisations beyond their websites - on TV, smartphones, mobile web, social networks and games consoles. In 2014 LookingLocal celebrated ten years as a developer of innovative digital solutions that are transforming the way government and the wider public sector interacts with citizens.

Reducing customer contact costs

Enabling diverse service-user groups to self-manage reduces the need for expensive and time-consuming face-to-face or telephone contact for content partners, such as local authorities, housing associations and clinical commissioning groups.

Public sector ownership = straightforward procurement

LookingLocal is owned and managed by Kirklees Council, on behalf of local government and partner organisations. This makes the procurement process straightforward for public bodies.

Promoting digital inclusion

LookingLocal is committed to digital inclusion, opening up services to people who are normally digitally excluded. Around seven million households still have no desktop or laptop computer or lack the skills to use them, but the vast majority have access to other digital platforms. Along with broadband-enabled Freeview, smartphone apps, WAP, the web and games consoles, LookingLocal is available to around 50 per cent of homes via Sky and Virgin digital television.

A decade of digital innovation

LookingLocal was born out of DigiTV in 2004 and was established as part of the national e-Government programme. It is the sole provider of local content to DirectGov and is the only e-Gov initiative that continues to go from strength to strength, adding to more than 130 content partners.

Get In Touch

Got a question about any of our products or would like to book a demo? Get in touch by calling 0845 434 8540 or completing the form below:

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Innovative, cost-effective digital technologies that promote inclusion by making public services accessible across a range of platforms and channels.